Which THREE U.S. Ladies do you want to see at the Olympics next year? | Page 2 | Golden Skate

Which THREE U.S. Ladies do you want to see at the Olympics next year?

guanchi

On the Ice
Joined
Mar 31, 2012
Gold, Hicks, Wagner. Maybe Ashley should forget about the 2a-3t. Her loop looks like her strongest jump- what about 2a-3lo?
 

drivingmissdaisy

Record Breaker
Joined
Feb 17, 2010
Probably, but she swings out so wide with the picking foot when she tries the 3t- it never looks secure. Maybe a 3lo would suit her technique better, plus doesn't it have higher bv?

I agree. The 3T combos seem to not work for her. She did the 3Z-3R combo before so maybe a 2A-3R would be easier and she could fully rotate it. Or maybe a loop-loop combo like Zhang does.
 

silverlake22

Record Breaker
Joined
Nov 12, 2009
Ashley should try 3lo-3t IMO. He 3lo landing has a lot of flow so I think she could better tack on a 3t to that jump than to her 2a, which has never been her best jump, a couple years ago she was consistently getting dinged for URs on her 2a.
 

chuckm

Record Breaker
Joined
Aug 31, 2003
Country
United-States
I would like to see Michelle, Tara and Sarah come out of retirement, if we're doing fantasy dream teams:laugh: Maybe Sasha can have that mythical 4th spot.

I would imagine that, barring a total meltdown, it will be Ashley, Gracie, definitely. I think Alissa Czisny will get the 3rd spot.

I could see Gracie not making it, actually. She's not that consistent and she could still have some sort of growth spurt. Ashley is a lock, I think. She's the only American to skate fairly well 2 years in a row at World's in years.

Gracie is 17 and has already had her growth spurt (the year she didn't make it to Nationals as a junior). The only thing that could take her out is injury. She's been extremely consistent in her last two Nationals, winning Juniors and finishing a close second in Seniors.

As for Alissa, she has returned to the ice, but we haven't seen her skate yet. She turns 26 in June and has had two surgeries on her hip. Who knows if she will return with any kind of consistency (and she's never been consistent even from one year to the next). Who knows, she may not be able to do her signature spins if they put too much strain on her hip. Without them, she's a slow skater with insecure jump technique and a limited jump repertoire.
 

pangtongfan

Match Penalty
Joined
Jun 16, 2010
Lets face it, it would be a huge shock if either Wagner or Gold somehow missed the team. I cant imagine it happening TBH. Even if one made 3 or 4 mistakes at Nationals next year they would still make it unless almost all the contenders had the performance of their lives.
 

Blades of Passion

Skating is Art, if you let it be
Record Breaker
Joined
Sep 14, 2008
Country
France
Ashley should try 3lo-3t IMO. He 3lo landing has a lot of flow so I think she could better tack on a 3t to that jump than to her 2a, which has never been her best jump, a couple years ago she was consistently getting dinged for URs on her 2a.

She doesn't need to bother with a back-end 3Toe or 3Loop combo in the LP at all. Just do a 3T+2A sequence and put 5 jumping passes in the second half of the program, like Miki Ando did in 2011. Ashley has great stamina and great quality jumps. There's honestly no point in risking a harder jump combination in the LP that will just tire her out more and possibly get <.

The SP is where she needs to be going for the 3-3, since the jumping passes there are limited and the program itself is shorter, so putting a bunch of your energy into a hard jump combination doesn't drain you out for later on in the program. Plus there's the whole aura of "having a 3-3", which carries over into the LP since you already proved you can do it.

I wish she'd go for 3Lutz-3Loop in the SP like she used to; that would be a BIG statement. Who cares about the edge call. The actual quality of Ashley's Lutz in terms of height/length/flow is so good that she gets barely any -GOE on it anyway with the edge call. After going for the 3Lutz-3Loop off the top of program, she can put both the 2Axel and 3Flip in the second half of her SP for the bonus points. Her base value would be higher than anyone except Mao Asada and she'll still be able to pull high +GOE off those solo jumping passes.
 

chuckm

Record Breaker
Joined
Aug 31, 2003
Country
United-States
I don't recall Ashley ever getting credit for 3z+3lo, or any 3/3 combo. Any time she's tried it, she's gotten the 2nd jump UR.
 

Krislite

Medalist
Joined
Sep 22, 2010
She doesn't need to bother with a back-end 3Toe or 3Loop combo in the LP at all. Just do a 3T+2A sequence and put 5 jumping passes in the second half of the program, like Miki Ando did in 2011. Ashley has great stamina and great quality jumps. There's honestly no point in risking a harder jump combination in the LP that will just tire her out more and possibly get <.

[...]

You're not serious, are you? :unsure:
 

Blades of Passion

Skating is Art, if you let it be
Record Breaker
Joined
Sep 14, 2008
Country
France
I don't recall Ashley ever getting credit for 3z+3lo, or any 3/3 combo. Any time she's tried it, she's gotten the 2nd jump UR.

2008 Nationals she got credit for 3Lz+3Lo in both programs and both were cleanly landed. The one she did in the SP was absolutely rotated, the one in the LP was perhaps < . A cleanly landed 3Lz+3Lo< is still worth going for, though.

You're not serious, are you? :unsure:

Of course I'm serious. It's definitely, definitely the best competition strategy for catering to Ashley's skill set. 3T+2A sequence in the second of the program is worth 6.51 points and is a very sure thing for her to be able to hit and get +GOE on. Comparatively, 2Axel+3Toe in the first half of the program is worth 7.4 in base value, but when will she ever execute that combo cleanly and fully rotated? She's taking a big risk for a base value increase of just .9. Plus the 2Axel+3Toe requires a longer setup time, so that brings her transitions score down, and it also takes more energy and creates more stress, which makes the rest of the LP harder.
 
Joined
Jun 21, 2003
Which three U.S. Ladies do you want to see at the Olympics next year?

Caroline Zhang.

That is, I wish she would skate so well next season and at nationals that she deserves to make the team.
 

vera01

Final Flight
Joined
Jan 6, 2013
Gracie Gold, Ashley Wagner, and Christina Gao.

Gracie and Ashley, in my opinion, deserves to go:)
 

mskater93

Record Breaker
Joined
Oct 22, 2005
I could see Gracie not making it, actually. She's not that consistent and she could still have some sort of growth spurt.

Gracie hasn't grown more than 1/2 an inch total in 2 years. She grew 3-4 inches the year she missed Nationals.

Gracie is actually VERY consistent. In practice she rarely misses ANYTHING that is in her programs. She is learning how to compete and bring what she does to practice with her onto the competition ice. Watching her go from complete meltdown (at SC) to Worlds (6th where she fought for everything) tells me she's on the right track on this plan...
 

FSGMT

Record Breaker
Joined
Sep 10, 2012
I don't recall Ashley ever getting credit for 3z+3lo, or any 3/3 combo. Any time she's tried it, she's gotten the 2nd jump UR.
Everyone seems to forget that at last season's 4CC her 3F+3T in the SP was ratified with +0.2 GOE (but it was two-footed), the same at WTT, but the GOE there was -0.3, so she got two ratified 3-3s last season!!
 

silverlake22

Record Breaker
Joined
Nov 12, 2009
Gracie hasn't grown more than 1/2 an inch total in 2 years. She grew 3-4 inches the year she missed Nationals.

Gracie is actually VERY consistent. In practice she rarely misses ANYTHING that is in her programs. She is learning how to compete and bring what she does to practice with her onto the competition ice. Watching her go from complete meltdown (at SC) to Worlds (6th where she fought for everything) tells me she's on the right track on this plan...

I actually think you may be right. People sometimes talk about how 3lo is such a bad jump for Gracie, unreliable, whatever, but the 3lo she did in the FS at Nationals and Worlds were really nice. So nice, and looked so easy for her, that I really think she should work towards doing 3lz-3t and a 3lo in her SP next season, that way she can build up consistency on the 3lo, train just one 3-3, avoid the edge call on her 3f, and be able to really work on addressing the 3f edge problem without putting herself in a high stakes situation (if she's working on fixing the edge, it could affect her consistency with the 3f, but if she is only doing one 3f between her 2 programs, it is not a big concern).
 

Krislite

Medalist
Joined
Sep 22, 2010
[...]
Of course I'm serious. It's definitely, definitely the best competition strategy for catering to Ashley's skill set. 3T+2A sequence in the second of the program is worth 6.51 points and is a very sure thing for her to be able to hit and get +GOE on. Comparatively, 2Axel+3Toe in the first half of the program is worth 7.4 in base value, but when will she ever execute that combo cleanly and fully rotated? She's taking a big risk for a base value increase of just .9. Plus the 2Axel+3Toe requires a longer setup time, so that brings her transitions score down, and it also takes more energy and creates more stress, which makes the rest of the LP harder.

If I recall correctly, you weren't exactly thrilled by Miki Ando's winning strategy of back-loading her program, so I thought you were kidding about Ashley doing 5 jumping passes in the second half.

I disagree about Ashley going only for a 3/3 in the SP and omitting it in the LP. If she can get a 3/3 consistent enough to be included in the SP, why not include it in the LP as well? Besides, it would force her to train it more frequently, which I imagine can only help her.
 
Top